The invention relates generally to a therapy apparatus and method, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for restoring range of motion to limbs. The invention is particularly useful for the elbow joint.
Physical therapy is commonly prescribed for individuals who experience pain and stiffness in their joints due to any number of causes, including highly repetitive motions performed during sporting activities or work tasks, and joints that have been immobilized for extended lengths of time due to injury. For example, tennis players, golfers, and baseball/softball pitchers engage in highly repetitive motions when playing their sport which can induce arm stress and shock that gets concentrated in the joint region and may irritate the tendons and other tissues. Hair stylists, barbers, bartenders, and industrial or assembly line employees are examples of individuals whose occupations require repetitive motions that can aggravate joints as well as surrounding tendons and muscles. Typical treatment for broken bones includes immobilization in hard casts that can lock a joint in place. Casts for broken arms can lock the elbow at a ninety-degree (90°) angle. When casts are eventually removed, sometimes three months or longer after the accident, the arm is typically very stiff and unable to move more than eighty to one-hundred degrees (80° to 100°) on account of shrunken tendons and atrophied muscles.
Traditional physical therapy can be quite expensive and time-consuming, involving travelling to a physical therapist's office for individualized stretching of the afflicted limb about the problematic joint by a trained professional to restore gradually the pre-injury range of motion. While using a professional trainer is preferable and is more likely to yield desirable results, such trainers typically give patients stretches to do at home between visits anyway. It would be desirable to provide an apparatus that enables an individual in need of physical therapy to stretch safely his or her own joint without the assistance of another.
Some apparatus, including orthotics and splints, are known in the art that may permit an individual to stretch his or her own joint and surrounding tissue, tendons, ligaments, and muscles. However, these apparatus are generally somewhat complicated with hinges, drive assemblies, springs, and the like that makes them difficult for many individuals to understand and operate properly. Some require elaborate mountings or installation that take significant space. Assembling/disassembling and installing/uninstalling can provide a level of frustration that many may not be willing to accept. Additionally, many of these apparatus are not adjustable to accommodate a plurality of users having different-sized limbs and are not easily carried and stored. Further, to the knowledge of the inventor, such prior apparatus only provide for manipulation of an elbow joint in one direction or manner. Elbow joints are more complex and therefore such prior apparatus have only limited usefulness.
It would be beneficial to provide an apparatus or “device” that is portable, and that collapses to a smaller size when not in use, and that may be easily stored away. It would also be beneficial to provide a therapy apparatus that may be used on a common flat surface, such as a table top, that is adjustable to accommodate patients' limbs of differing lengths, and that can be used to stretch different connective tissue without difficult or time consuming efforts to reconfigure the device.
In the case of elbow joints in particular, it would be beneficial to provide a therapy apparatus and method useful for providing therapy to the connective tissues associated with the elbow that provides the ability to manipulate the elbow joint in different directions or manners, that is adjustable for patients having different forearm and upper arm lengths, that can be set on a common flat surface for use, that collapses when not in use, and that is portable for the patient's use in traveling. It would also be beneficial to provide an elbow therapy device that allows for rotation of the forearm in relation to the upper arm during use so that different connective tissues may be stretched. It would also be beneficial to provide a therapy device that has a small number of parts and that may easily be operated with a single hand. Further, it would be beneficial to provide a therapy device that permits the stretching of an arm about the elbow joint of a few degrees to approximately 180°.
When a cautious approach is taken with a safety-proven apparatus that is easy to use and understand, the ability to self-direct therapy can reduce the cost and make therapy more readily and easily accessible and convenient to individuals who would not otherwise take the time and money to see a physical therapist.
Hence those skilled in the art have recognized the need for an improved therapy apparatus and method that accommodate different-sized limbs, can provide greater manipulation ability with the elbow joint so that it can be manipulated in different directions and manners, can be easily transported and stored, and allows a user to self-direct therapy and can be operated with a single hand. A need has also been recognized for a therapeutic apparatus that is relatively simple to use and easy to assemble. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.